Chpt 8: With Uriah and Zechariah as witnesses, Isaiah made a sign that said, “Future Property of Assyria,” referring to Syria and Israel. Soon, his wife, a prophetess became pregnant with a son. Isaiah named him, “The Assyrians,” in reference to the prophecy he wrote on the sign, which would be fulfilled before the child was able to properly form a sentence.

God reiterated that the Assyrians would flood the land like the Euphrates River overrunning its banks—and resistance is futile. God clearly told Isaiah not to buy into the conspiracy theories that work people into a frenzy, but to fear and dread Him only. For His true people, He will be a stone fortress. For the rest, a stumbling stone. The law of God will be entrusted to His few remaining people, of which Isaiah and his family are symbolic. People will get so hard up for leadership and direction that they will consult the dead. God’s law will be there all along, but they won’t understand it. Instead they’ll persist in their doomsday pessimism and eventually be taken captive.

Chpt 9: But there is mercy for those who have trusted in God through the difficulties. A child related to King David will usher in a new era—the day of the underdog. His coming signals a new order, an ever-expanding kingdom marked by perpetual peace and justice. God has already issued sentence for those who have disgraced His name (claiming to be His people). They are the very ones who said, “We can just rebuild on the ruins.” God is mustering an army to encompass them. Even so, they won’t humble themselves before Him. So He will cut off the tail that wags the dog and the head of the dog too! Religious leaders and politicians alike have been misleading the people. There will be no mercy, not for them, not for the people they have mislead—not even the young men, women or children. All will be fuel for the fire. And they will push each other into the fire to try to save their own lives for a moment more. Such a bloodthirsty people. And God’s not done yet…

A colloquial summary
Chpt 5: A loving old Father planted a vineyard and pampered it, but it didn’t produce fruit. Whose fault is that, the Father’s or the vine’s? It’s time to give up on that vineyard, even the most promising vine, and not waste any more resource on it. Just take out the whole thing.

You know who I feel sorry for? Greedy land grabbers who make it impossible for poor people to live off the land just so they can have a ranch or an estate—which in time will be like haunted houses anyway. Addicts and partiers who go through life in an altered state of mind. Hell has a big appetite and they are the main course. Those who are blurring and confusing the lines between good and evil. Snobs who think they’re so much more refined than the rest of us, yet they would distort justice to make a dime.

I also feel sorry for those smug highbrows who say they can’t wait for God’s Judgment Day. Yes, God is coming and He will prevail, and the underdog will have his day too.

All of this riff-raff has complete disregard for God and will be uprooted and tossed into the burn pile. And this land will be occupied with a swarm of foreign soldiers, from coast to coast, till their job is done.

Chpt 6: The year King Uzziah died, I had a supernatural experience in which I saw God on his throne. There was smoke and an earthquake and I was like, “Help! I’m a goner!” Then an angel touched my mouth with a hot coal and I was safe. God said he wanted to send someone on assignment, so I volunteered. The assignment: Tell the people, “You’re so smart you’re dumb,” which will cause them to be blinded to the obvious facts until God has completely uprooted this people and laid waste to the land. Even the cutting with which He’ll start over will be no better than a stump.

Chpt 7: God told me to take my son, A-Remnant-Shall-Return, and meet up on the road with King Ahaz who was shaking in his boots because of the war with Syria and Israel. I told him that Israel and Syria are not acting according to God’s plan, and therefore, will not prevail, and that if he wanted to keep his position as king, he better believe what I’m saying. I even offered to give him a sign—anything! But he didn’t take me seriously and said he wouldn’t dare tempt God like that. [Politicians!] But I was like, “What do you think you’re doing right now! You’re getting your sign anyway and it’s this: a virgin will give birth to a baby boy and name him God-with-Us, and before that boy is old enough to be held accountable for his actions, Israel and Syria will be done for. But it’s not going to be any better for us. Times will be as bad, or worse, than they were during the civil war. On God’s command, a foreign army will occupy this land—thick as flies in every nook and cranny. And our fruited plains of amber waves of grain? No better than thickets, fit only for livestock to graze. The virgin and her son will eek out an existence from milk products and the occasional honey they find in a wild hive.”

Personal note before we dig in: To my followers (yes, Mom, I’m talking to you), I just want to let you know that I have not given up on going through the four gospels chronologically. Since March, my life has been a bit unsettled. Starting with a mission trip to Mexico in mid March, followed by sell of my house, house hunting for another house, living in an odd spot in transition between the two houses, buying a new house on July 1 and now remodeling same. School starts Monday for my first grader and the following Friday for my college freshman. The remodel is probably six weeks away from “almost done.” So, yeah. Those are the mitigating factors. In the meantime, I’ve been the poetry books of the Bible and just barely holding on with On My Own Now Ministry responsibilities.

I guess I would confess 1. my house is out of order and 2. my priorities are screwed up. I’ve been living the last four months as if there is no such thing as eternity, as if the Kingdom of God will wait for me to bury my father. (Oh, I also got two kittens, but I digress.) So, Father, forgive me for shelving my spiritual gifts in deference to garage selling and Craigslisting (oh yes I did just make a verb out of Craigslist!) and trying to make my bedroom pretty. I think all the kitty kisses have been perfectly acceptable distractions though! (Joy!).

OK, so here’s a weird thing. I decided under divine direction to make a study of the book of Isaiah. I was reading along, taking notes, then “decided” to summarize each chapter so I could get a better big picture of what’s going on here, but more in depth than the summary that’s at the beginning of the book in my Amplified Bible. After I summarized, I colloquialized (spellcheck protesting the creation of another verb) and here’s the result. No promises as to how quickly I’ll get through this or when I’ll come back to the chrono gospels. But it’s on my heart to work on both. It’s just a matter of putting my house in order.

PS: I lied, my Mom doesn’t follow my blog.

And now the good stuff:

Isaiah Chapters 1-4 (How I would summarize it)

The people calling themselves “God’s children” are mostly just delusional psychos. They go about their Sunday morning rituals in vain because their lives don’t bear out God’s principles. He cares about how we live and our relationship to Him, nothing more. There is still hope for us! But if we continue on in our delusions, God is going to clean house—particularly of all of those who consider themselves the moral cream of the crop.

People of God, why won’t you admit to yourselves that you are nothing without God? Because you’re proud, that’s why. But you can’t cash in your high standard of living, relative wealth and high position for a pass from judgment. You need to stop believing you’re good enough, smart enough and strong enough to do this on your own.

God is going to yank the rug right out from under you, and your entire social order is going to unravel. Only the true children of God will make it through this. But all the elite and rich, the proud of heart, they’re going down! And I mean women too—maybe especially women! All you finely coiffed, stylishly accessorized, manicured women who think that makes you something special, you’ll end up with a scabby, bald head and dressed in rags. And I’m taking your menfolk too.

That’s right; you’re going to be really hard up. But My children—the ones whose name I have recorded in My roll—will have My protection. They’ll have shade when it’s sunny, light when it’s dark and the shelter of a canopy of love.